School Shootings

A suspected child abductor found with 11 children and four other adults at a squalid New Mexico compound had trained at least one of the minors to use an assault rifle in preparation for a school shooting, prosecutors said.

The commission on school safety held a “listening session” in Cheyenne, Wyo., where attendees were cool to the idea of arming teachers. It’s like “asking your plumber to cut your hair,” said one school principal.

A committee of senators recommended more funding to train and arm school personnel and “harden” school buildings but shied away from endorsement of “red flag” protective orders that advocates say could help prevent future shootings.

Five months after its creation, the Federal Commission on School Safety is under criticism for failing to tackle the politically thorny issue of gun control as part of its search for a federal response to the violence. Gun control groups are being shunned by the panel.

A newly released report finds little fault with the Broward school district’s handling of Nikolas Cruz, charged with killing 17 people at his former high school last Feb. 14. But the New York Times cites “two key errors” that left the troubled Cruz without therapeutic services from the district for more than a year before the shooting.

The center, piloted by one of the nation’s leading police think tanks, will explore how police and other first responders can improve their ability to handle mass violence incidents like terror attacks and school shootings.

ByMegan Hadley |June 5, 2018

While school resource officer Scot Peterson has been under intense scrutiny for not stopping the mass shooting in Parkland, FL, another gun expert says that credible messengers could be used in schools to prevent mass shootings.

Police say a boy opened fire with two handguns in a science classroom, wounding a teacher and another student. Gov. Eric Holcomb has begun to address the question that will almost certainly dominate next year’s legislative session: How do we prevent something like this from happening again?

The school-shooting copycat syndrome has steadily escalated in recent years. Young men, many of them depressed, alienated or mentally disturbed, are drawn to the Columbine subculture because they see it as a way to get the attention of a society that they believe bullies, ignores or misunderstands them.

The execution of Carey Dean Moore went forward on Tuesday after a federal appeals court denied a drug company's request to halt the lethal injection over concerns about whether the drugs were obtained improperly by the state.

A new report by the American Bar Association's Senior Lawyers Division makes nine recommendations and suggests 45 "action items" that it says can advance public health efforts to confront the opioid epidemic. One recommendation calls for promoting policies and laws that support families and caregivers struggling with opioid and substance misuse disorders.

In a report issued Tuesday, the Prison Policy Initiative found that people who have been to prison are 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public. Recommended policy initiatives include barring housing discrimination against returning citizens.

A hearing on state Senate Bill 1391, which would prevent youths under 16 from being sent to adult courts, is scheduled Thursday. Supporters say it will reduce recidivism rates and better rehabilitate and prepare youth for successful, productive reentry into society.